Validation of the Swedish Eating Assessment Tool, S-EAT-10, for patients with head and neck cancer

The aim of this study was to validate the Swedish version of Eating Assessment Tool (S-EAT-10) for head and neck cancer patients. The participants (n = 60) had persistent swallowing difficulties 6-36 months after completion of curative radiotherapy. The videofluoroscopic swallowing study was assessed using the Penetration Aspiration Scale and the Yale Pharyngeal Residue Severity Rating Scale modified for videofluoroscopy. Participants completed questionnaires S-EAT-10, M.D. Anderson Dysphagia Inventory (MDADI) and study-specific questions. Internal consistency was excellent and the test-retest reliability was good. Regarding convergent validity, S-EAT-10 showed moderate to strong correlation with the MDADI and no to weak correlation with study-specific questions regarding meal duration and weight change. Regarding criterion validity, there was a weak correlation between S-EAT-10 and instrumental measures. S-EAT-10 showed 85% sensitivity in identifying patients with dysphagia. S-EAT-10 could not discriminate between different degrees of dysphagia. Thus, S-EAT-10 showed sufficient psychometric properties regarding head and neck cancer patients.